Shortly before 3:30 p.m. on Thursday, September 26, 2014, 76-year-old James Harold Eckenwiler, of Santa Ana, was killed in a crash in Fountain Valley, reported the Orange County Register. While traveling eastbound on Talbert Avenue in a Ford Explorer, Eckenwiler turned left at Foster Street and collided with a Chevrolet Cobalt that was heading westbound on Talbert. Eckenwiler was pronounced dead at the scene. Emergency responders transported a passenger in the Explorer and the driver of the Cobalt to the hospital to receive treatment for major trauma. Authorities are investigating the accident and have asked that witnesses contact them at 714-593-4485.

Motor vehicle collisions claimed one life and caused injury to 551 people in Fountain Valley in 2011, according to the most current crash data available from the California Highway Patrol. In a comparison of 102 cities with populations of between 50,001 and 100,000, the California Office of Traffic Safety ranked Fountain Valley the worst for its incidence of fatal and injury crashes. Across Orange County, 88 people were killed and 17,182 were injured in collisions that year.

When traffic accidents result in injury or death, the victims or their families may file personal injury or wrongful death claims against the at-fault parties in order to secure compensation for the cost of their recoveries or losses. For more information, please call 888-752-7474 or contact us online.

All of us at Allen, Flatt, Ballidis, and Leslie would like to offer our condolences to the family of James Harold Eckenwiler. We would also like to wish a full recovery to the two people who were injured in this accident.